Tie plate and rail brace



y 1932- J. A. WELTON 1,858,868

TIE PLATE AND RAIL BRACE Filed May 12, 19 so llm I/"II/I/Il/l 'fI/IIl/I/I/IIIIII/AV/I/l/AV/ III/1111111111111 Patented May 17, 1932 JOHN A. WELTON, OF DOVER, OHIO TIE PLATE AND BAIL BRACE Application filed May 12, 1930. Serial No. 451,607.

This invention relates to devices for securing railway rails to the ties therefor and for bracing and anchoring the same thereon.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved brace for taking up side thrust of railway rails and transferring it to the ties.

Another object is to provide a brace for rails which may be laterally adjusted in position to positionally adjust the rail on the tie.

Another object is to provide a rail brace for taking up lateral or side thrust of the rail and engaging the rail in a manner to anchor it against longitudinal movement.

Another object is to provide an improved tie plate for rails constructed in a manner to be adapted for cooperative association with a rail brace and/or an anchor.

Another object is to provide a combined tie plate lateral brace and longitudinal anchor construction.

Another object to to provide a combined tie plate, rail brace and/or anchor construction which will be simple and cheap to manufacture and efficient in operation.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains.

My invention is fully disclosed in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a rail and tie showing an embodiment of my invention associated therewith.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken approximately centrally of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 2, drawn to a smaller scale, showing a modification of my invention.

Referring to the drawings, I have shown at 1 a cross tie indicated as made of wood, but it will be understood that my invention is applicable to cross ties of other materials such as metal, reinforced concrete, etc.

At 2 I have shown a tie plate embodying some of the features of my invention. The tie plate 2 is provided with rectangular perforations 3-3 into which spikes 4- 1 are adapted to be inserted and driven into the tie, the

heads 5-5 of the spikes over-lapping the base flange 6 of the rail indicated generally at 7 with which the device cooperates.

The

are in the form of truncated cones.

The

truncated upper portions of the bosses 8 are provided with perforations 9-9 through which bolts 202O may be inserted upwardly before the plate 2 is spiked to the tie 1, the heads of the bolts being trapped and enclosed within the hollow bosses 8, thus obviating the necessity of providing recesses for them in the tie 1. The recesses may be of any desired shape and the heads of the bolts should conform thereto, in order to prevent their turning when the nuts 2121 are tightened.

At 9-9 are shown two braces alike except for differences to be described.

The braces 9 comprise abutment portions 11-11 disposed generally horizontally and transversely of the rail 7 the inner ends y 12-12 of which abut upon opposite sides of the web 13 of the rail. Upon the under side of each abutment portion 11, a generally conical recess 14 is formed adapted to approximately it the outer conical surface of the boss 8 in a manner and for a purpose to be described. Outwardly from the recesses 14: the braces 9 terminate in fulcrum pieces 15 and 15 upon which the braces 9 may rock in operation to be described. lhe fulcrum piece 15 is provided on its under surface with a convex protuberance 16 which may be generally hemi-spherical or may be semicylindrical and which normally rests upon the upper surface of the plate 2; The fulcrum piece 15 may be formed the same as the fulcrum piece 15 but in the drawings I have illustrated it as of slightly different form to illustrate a modified form of fulcrum piece.

The fulcrum piece 15 on its under surface is formed flat as at 17 and co-operating therewith, a protuberance 18 is pressed into the flat stock of the plate 2. The protuberance 18 may be hemi-spherical or semicylindrical.

The braces 9 are provided with passageways or bores 1919 through which the bolts 2020 extend and nuts 21-21 on the outer ends of the bolts are provided. Any suitable amount of clearance may be provided for the bolts 20 in the bores 19.

In the operation of my invention as thus far described, after mounting the plates 2 on the tie and the rail 7 on the plate, the braces 9 may be placed in position. Upon drawing up the nuts 21, the braces 9 will rock on their fulcrum pieces 15 and 15, the protuberance 16 in the case of the fulcrum piece 1.) rocking on the plate 2 and in the case of the fulcrum piece 15, the surface 17 rock ing on the protuberance 18. Thus the abutment p0rtions1111 may be drawn downwardly by the nuts 21. As the abutment portions move downwardly, their conical recesses 14 engage the conical bosses 8 and move the abutment portions 11 into engagement with the web 18 of the rail, the inclined walls of the recesses and bosses re ferred to acting as wedges and forcing the abutment portions 11 against the rail with great pressure. To insure that the abutment portions will not bottom on the plate 2 or the recesses 14 on the bosses 8, clearance may be provided between the bosses and the recesses as at 22 and 28 and between the abutment portions and the plate as at 24.

Thus by the operation of the parts as described, the rail may be wedgingly clamped between the abutment portions 11, and lateral thrust of the rail may be taken up through the abutment portions and transferred to the plate 2 and thence to the tie. Also, by loosening one nut 21 and tightening the other, one abutment portion may be moved more than the other, thus the rail may be adjustably shifted laterally if desired; and this adjustable movement may be effected before the spikes l have been driven all the way home if desired.

As shown in Fig. 1, the inner abutting ends 1212 of the abutment portions 11 at the point of their engagement with the rail web 18, may be curved longitudinally of the rail as at 2525 on arcs of greater radius than the distance between the web 18 and the center of the bolts 20. lVith this construction, if the rail 7 tends to move or creep longitudinally, the frictional engagement of the abutmentportions with the web 18 will rotate the braces 9 about the bolts 20 as pivots and without disengaging or freeing the engagement of the wedging contact between the abutment portions 11 and the bosses 8 above referred to; and the rotation of the braces 9 will cause the surfaces 25 to exert a camming action to still further increase the gripping opposed pressures of the abutment portions 1111 to cause them to substantially seize the web 18 of the rail and prevent its longitudinal movement.

If, for purposes of assembling or abutting the parts or for any other reason such as longitudinally adjusting the rail, it be desired to eliminate the said camming and seizing action of the abutment portions 11, this may be effected by conforming the surfaces 12 to circles or cylinders around axes of the bolts 20 or by conforming them to planes parallel with the web 18.

If desired, the bosses 8 and the recesses 14 0 may be given other shapes than conical such as cylindrical or spherical or any combination of the same to vary as desired the wedging action thereof which occurs concurrently with the rocking of the braces 9 on their fulcrum pieces 15 or 15.

In Fig. 3, I have shown a modification of my invention in which only one abutment portion 11 is employed, the construction of which and the coordinate construction of the plate may be the same as that shown in Fig. 2 and has been omitted from Fig. 8. The abutment on the left side of the rail as viewed in Fig. 8 however is rigidly bolted to the plate 26 by bolts 27 and 28 passed through the brace 29, the heads of the bolts residing in a recess or recesses pressed in the lower face of the plate 26 for the purpose. The modification shown in Fig. 8 is adapted to use with wood ties 1 as illustrated, but is equally applicable to concrete and steel or steel ties in which it may be desired to rigidly the abutment or brace 29 to the tie, in which case the brace 29 would preferably be structurally embodied in the tie.

My invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described inasmuch as many changes and modifications may be made thereof without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificing its advantages.

1 claim:

1. In combination with a railway rail and tie, a thrust element provided with a portion adapted to abut transversely upon the rail web, a stationary wedge element secured to the tie, means for clampingly moving the thrust element toward the tie on said wedge element to laterally thrust the thrust element against the rail web.

2. In combination with a railway rail and a tie therefor, a lateral thrust element having a portion adapted to be laterally abutted against the rail web, and provided with a wedge portion, a wedge element secured to the tie, means for forcibly sliding the wedge portion of the thrust elementon the stationary wedge element for exerting transverse thrust on the rail web, and an abutment connected to the tie and engaging the rail web on the opposite side thereof from the thrust element.

8. In a device of the class described, in combination with a railway rail and tie, a base element secured to the tie, an abutment on the base adapted to abut transversely upon the rail web, a thrust element engaging the opposite side of the web provided with an inclined portion, a corresponding mating inclined portion on the base, clamp means for sliding one inclined portion on the other to cause the thrust element and the abutment on the base to grip the rail web therebetween.

4:. In a device of the class described, in combination with a railway rail and tie therefor, a base adapted to be secured to the tie, and to support the rail, the base being provided with a pair of inclined portions on opposite sides of the rail, a pair of transverse thrust elements disposed in abutting engagement with the rail web on opposite sides thereof and provided with inclined portions engaging the inclined portions of the base and a bolt associated with each thrust element and the base for drawing the thrust elements toward the base and wedgingly forcing them against the rail web.

5. In a device of the class described in combination with a railway rail and tie therefor, a base adapted to be secured to the tie, and to support the rail, the base being provided with a pair of inclined portions on opposite sides of the rail, a pair of transverse thrust elements disposed in abutting engagement with the rail web on opposite sides thereof and provided with inclined portions engaging the inclined portions of the base and a bolt associated with each thrust element and the base for drawing the thrust elements toward the base and wedgingly forcing them. against the rail web, each thrust element being operable independently of the other.

6. In a device of the class described, in combination with a railway rail and tie therefor, a base plate, means for securing the plate to the tie, the plate being adapted to support the rail, wedging surfaces formed on the plate, a pair of braces provided with wedge portions adapted to slidingly engage the wedge surfaces on the base and provided also with abutment portions adapted to en gage opposite sides of the rail web and provided with fulcrum portions whereby the braces may rock on the plate and bolts securing the braces to the plate and adapted to wedgingly draw the abutment portions into pressure engagement with opposite sides of the web.

7. In a device of the class described, in combination with a railway rail and tie therefor, a base plate, means for securing the plate to the tie, the plate being adapted to support the rail, wedging surfaces formed on the plate, a pair of braces provided with wedge portions adapted toslidingly engage the'wedge surfaces on the base and provided also with abutment portions adapted to engage opposite sides of the rail web and provided with fulcrum portions whereby the braces may rock on the plate and bolts securing the braces to the plate and adapted to wedgingly draw the abutment portions into pressure engagement with opposite sides of the web, the brac'esbeing also adapted to pivot on vertical axes around said bolts.

8. In a device of the class described, in combination with a railway rail and tie there for, a base plate, means for securing the plate to the tie, the plate being adapted to support the rail, wedging surfaces formed on the plate, a pair of braces provided with wedge portions adapted to slidingly engage the wedge surfaces on the base and provided also with abutment portions adapted to engage opposite sides of the rail web and provided'with'fulcrum portions whereby the braces may rock on the plate and bolts securing the braces to the plate and adapted to wedgingly draw the abutment portions into pressure engagement with opposite sides of the web, the braces being also adapted to pivot on vertical axes around said bolts, and the abutment portions being curved at their points of engagement with the rail web to exert a camming pressure action thereon when pivoting around said bolts.

9. In a device of the class described, in combination with a railway rail and tie therefor, a base on the tie, adapted to support the rail, means for securing the base and rail to the tie, a pair of movable braces provided with rail web engageable abutment portions mounted on the base for pivot movement on vertical axes on the base and for rocking movement on substantially horizontal axes relative to the base and wedgingly engaging the base, and means for forcibly rocking the braces on the base to effect wedging movement of the braces toward the web to force the abutment portions into pressure engagement with the web on opposite sides thereof.

10. In combination with" a railway rail and tie, an abutment secured to the tie, a thrust element having a portion adapted to be laterally abutted against the rail and having an abutment portion engaging the tie abutment to prevent yielding under thrust, a fulcrum upon which the thrust element may rock, disposed remotely from the rail and nearer to the tie than the abutment por tion, and means associated with the thrust element and tie to rock the abutting end of the thrust element toward the tie.

11. In combination with a railway rail and tie, an abutment secured to the tie, a thrust element having a portion adapted to be laterally abutted against the rail and having an abutment portion engaging the tie abutment to prevent yielding under thrust, a fulcrum upon which the thrust element may rock, disposed remotely from the rail and nearer to the tie than the abutment portion, and screw-threaded means associated with the thrust element and tie to rock the abutting end of the thrust element toward the tie.

12. In combination with a railway rail and tie, an abutment secured to the tie, a thrust element having a portion adapted to be laterally abutted against the rail and having an abutment portion engaging the tie abutment to prevent yielding under thrust, a fulcrum upon which the thrust element may rock, disposed remotely from the rail and nearer to the tie than the abutment portion, means associated with the thrust element and tie to rock the abutting end of the thrust element toward the tie, and a rotational bearing for the thrust element on a generally vertical axis, the abutment portion being eccentrically formed to increase the thrust on the thrust element upon rotational movement thereof.

13. In combination with a railway rail and tie, an abutment secured to the tie, a thrust element having a portion adapted to be laterally abutted against the rail and having an abutment portion engaging the tie abutment to prevent yielding under thrust, a fulcrum upon which the thrust element may rock, disposed remotely from the rail and nearer to the tie than the abutment portion, means associated with the thrust element and tie to rock the abutting end of the thrust element toward the tie, and a rotational bearing for the thrust element on a generally vertical axis between the rail and fulcrum, and the abutment portion being eccentrically formed to increase the thrust on the thrust element upon rotational movement.

14. In combination with a railway rail and tie, an abutment secured to the tie, a thrust element having a portion adapted to be laterally abutted against the rail and having an abutment portion engaging the tie abutment to prevent yielding under thrust, a fulcrum upon which the thrust element may rock, disposed remotely from the rail and nearer to the tie than the abutting portion of the thrust element, a screw-threaded bolt associated with the thrust element and tie to rock the abutting end of the thrust element toward the tie, the thrust element being rotatable on the bolt on a generally vertical axis between the rail and the fulcrum, and the abutment portion being eccentrically formed to increase the thrust on the thrust element upon rotational movement around the bolt.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiiX my signature this 9th day of May, 1930.

JOHN A. WELTON. 

